Shards of a Mirror
by Zatroopa
Summary: Different choices create different worlds. Some have a different Soul Reaper be the one who gave the Substitute his first taste of spiritual power, others have the one given the power be another and some even change before or after the events. A gaze into these possibilities, these shards of a wider mirror called reality, reveals many things and how they could have been different.


**Due to writer's block, I find myself being unable to put pen to paper for "Broken Blades" so I decided to do this. Not only to try and get the creative juices flowing, but to also allow for some ideas that I had for fics that never seemed to widen out which may do so if they prove to be more stubborn in staying in my head. This is essentially a collection of oneshot AUs in a series, some will be lighter than canon while others will be darker, but I'm sure they will be enjoyed.**

**This first one is basically replacing Rukia with Momo as the Soul Reaper who lends Ichigo the power he gained in the first place, I always wondered what would happen with different Soul Reapers doing this and this one may become something bigger but it's not likely.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Bleach.**

* * *

**Shards of a Mirror #1: Hinamori Momo In Karakura Town**

If one had tried to warn the Vice Captain of the Fifth Division about the events of today, she would have looked at them as if they were insane and went about her business, but here she was, watching this human cut down that Hollow with an amazing amount of ease. Hinamori Momo was starting to regret ever taking the position of guardian for Karakura Town, however temporary the position was supposed to be, although she did feel bad for wishing some of these troubles onto Kuchiki Rukia, even if she may have done a better job.

Momo didn't even take it for the right reasons, wanting to help people be guided into Soul Society, but because Captain Aizen had recommended it to take her mind off a recent argument with Toshiro, one that had gotten rather heated.

She didn't know why he was so upset. Momo was simply talking about her day, noting an incident that had been resolved by Captain Aizen, and how she had hoped to get her paperwork done for him in time and Toshiro just had to enter in one of his snide comments about how he saw her working relationships. She may not have reacted accordingly, but she had been reminded of Captain Aizen's words about how Toshiro treated him at times and lambasted her short friend a fair bit.

Words were exchanged, voices were risen and Toshiro made some accusations that ended their little outing with a red cheek for the small Captain and apparent regret (if what Matsumoto told her was true) while Momo had to repress tears. She managed to make it to her quarters before breaking down and having the humiliation of looking weak in front of Captain Aizen, who understood what happened and told her that some time off might be able to help her, to which she had eagerly agreed to.

Things had been uneventful, run of the mill work that was actually quite below a Vice Captain, but that had all changed when she chased down Fishbone D to the area where this human had lived and tried to purify the Hollow. She hadn't expected to be seen, let alone attacked, by an orange-haired human with considerable spiritual power, resulting in an awkward situation of tears, apologies and explanations.

By the time the routine ended, the human (whose name was Ichigo) found that his family was being attacked by a Hollow and Momo had to make sure that not only was the Hollow purified, yet she also had to stop Ichigo from thinking that this was all his fault. Her failure to do so had led to her being badly injured by the Hollow and being forced to share her power with Ichigo so that no innocents would get hurt.

What she hadn't expected was that it would be so easy for the human to defeat Fishbone D with such ease, his zanpakuto itself was massive, and neither did she expect to lose all of her power instead of just half. After he collapsed, Momo rushed over towards him to make sure that he was alright and began to fear the worst for herself after making sure that he was safe, questions forcing themselves into her mind with answers just as worrying.

How would she return to Soul Society?

How much trouble would she be in for her actions?

Where would she find a gigai?

Would her comrades accept her case as legitimate for giving him her powers?

Would she ever see Captain Aizen or Toshiro again?

Her fears continued, making her unable to sense the presence of another until he had been there for some time, he seemed to be wearing a strange hat alongside his clothing and seemed unconcerned with the sight that was before his eyes. The man turned to her with a smile that some of the merchants in Soul Society would give when they were offering bargains for certain goods.

"Excuse me, miss. Would you like to rent a gigai?" He asked, looking as if he didn't know about the urgency of her situation, and Momo rapidly accepted, having little choice but to trust in this stranger.

* * *

Ichigo Kurosaki wondered about Momo sometimes. The 'new student' had managed to endear herself to his friends, especially since Mizuiro thought she wasn't much older than him so she was safe from his womanising abilities and Chizuru could be stopped by Tatsuki, and she seemed polite enough for him to not get angry over the whole "you need to help the dead move on and kill those Hollows over there" speech.

She had taken up the role of a teacher, trying to teach him the methods of combat that Soul Reapers used for defeating Hollows, but it soon became apparent what he was good at and what he wasn't. That kido stuff was quickly canned due to him not having the 'right power-set' before she started comparing him to a friend called Renji and he didn't have the time or power to focus on hakuda matata (something along those lines) and shunpo, meaning that he had to focus on swordsmanship instead.

He was pretty good at it, managing to hit nearly all of the 'heads' and only some of the other parts, though Momo's inability to take a firm tone could get annoying when it came to getting better, and the Hollows he faced were taking shorter and shorter times to purify. School wasn't too badly disrupted, Momo was pretty book-smart and was getting dangerously near to the position of top five, which meant that life was becoming rather normal for someone with his situation.

Issues emerged with Acidwire, the Hollow form of Inoue's brother, being unreasonably tough and the complete piece of shit known as Shrieker, trying to kill a kid while lying about being able to bring his mother back. Momo crying felt weird, despite her having a gentle nature, but Karin crying was like the apocalypse itself and he could see why when he heard the story, sending the kid to Soul Society was a relief for him to do.

With that, he decided to find out more about this Soul Society that Momo kept on talking about and what she did there. Ichigo found a very happy storyteller by asking that question, he mostly wanted to know more about her so he found out her life in the outer parts of the afterlife, her time in the training Academy, the Fifth Division thing and the people she knew. She was the Vice Captain of her division and was having trouble with one of her friends, judging by the look on her face when she mentioned the friend since she was a kid, but one particular detail became obvious.

Momo was in love with her Captain. She denied it when he pointed this out, blush evident on her cheeks, but the look on her face when describing him said it all, Ichigo never got why girls avoided acting on their feelings and just telling the guy how she felt. He thought about asking Mizuiro, before dropped that idea after realising how that would look for the rumours about him and Momo, and instead went to Inoue and Tatsuki.

No luck there, Inoue got really nervous for some strange reason and Tatsuki, after he denied it was him, simply labelled him an idiot and walked away.

Then again, from how Momo made this Aizen guy sound, how did you approach a guy like that? He sounded pretty decent in Ichigo's book, caring for the guys below him and doing what was right but within smart limits, and Momo seemed to think that the two would get along great if they met, but it was apparent why you would feel pressured into keeping quiet. Aizen sounded like he would use the same tone when accepting or denying feelings and Momo was probably afraid of the latter, ruining their relationship.

That was a problem for Momo to resolve, however, and Ichigo didn't want to delve into her personal life too much. She seemed safe enough from Chizuru's gazes and got along well with Inoue while the issue of going comatose every time he had to do his Soul Reaper duties was something that Momo said that she was going to resolve.

Ichigo could actually get a bit used to being a Soul Reaper, not too much though.

* * *

"A great man told me that a good person worked to make the world as it should be, not as it is," Ms Hinamori told him, a firm look in her eyes while holding the Mod-Soul container. "The product is fine."

Urahara had little trouble figuring out who this 'great man' was and had to repress the urge to scoff at those words, especially when looking at Ichigo's proud expression. Tessai looked uncomfortable at those words as well, figuring out who said such things, but gaining a confirmation that responsibility lied with Ms Hinamori had defused the situation.

Going back to the shop, Urahara wondered if he was making the right decision in placing the Hogyoku in Ms Hinamori, he hadn't been aware that she was Aizen's direct subordinate (although not in his true goal), which meant that the chances of Aizen finding out about him were much higher now. Thankfully, the gigai's effects should have been taking effect and Ms Hinamori would have to adapt to life as a human spirit, an unfortunate piece of collateral damage, but one that would give Soul Society a fighting chance once Aizen's true colours were revealed.

It wasn't like he was dooming Ms Hinamori to a life of eternal seclusion, once the conversion was complete, the gigai would age like a human body and she would eventually live a happy life with Ichigo and his friends. Maybe she would even be able to lend them advice when the battle reached Karakura Town?

Urahara realised that he was rationalising his actions, pretending that Ms Hinamori wouldn't become depressed or suspicious about what would happen, it was more likely that she would panic and cause a scene, requiring action. He could make up an excuse about gigai's everywhere going strange due to some threat and the Soul Reapers involved losing their power and being executed, making her avoid a fuss, but it was a long shot.

All in all, he simply had to wait for the powers to be stripped. The pain felt by Ms Hinamori would simply be outweighed by the lives saved by Aizen's power having some form of limit being applied to it, the ends justifying the means and all that, no matter how he felt about it. Even if he felt a bit evil for doing such a thing.

* * *

"Ichigo, you need my help!" Momo cried out, fear mixed in with her voice.

Grand Fisher, the Hollow that alluded Soul Reaper attention for fifty years, was clearly having the upper hand in fighting Ichigo. The lack of injuries on the Hollow and the multitude on Ichigo was proof enough of that, yet Momo's attempt at helping him with kido were met with a firm refusal by the human, for some reason.

"Just stay out of this, I have to stop him myself." He shouted, avoiding a fatal blow by shifting to the left and trying to pierce the mask of Grand Fisher, to little avail. As the fight went on, Ichigo was impaled by spikes and Momo had to fight down the urge to come down and help him, realising that he may never forgive her for such actions.

Seeing the fight turn so one-sided, however, almost made her just ignore his words and use what little power she had to use kido and end this threat once and for all. She could just say that the potential lives saved outweighed Ichigo's personal prid-

_"Captain Ukitake used poor words when calling it pride."_

Captain Aizen's words filled into her head, they had just heard of the incident about Kaien Shiba's death and Momo was confused about why neither Rukia or Captain Ukitake had helped him fight off the Hollow. She had asked Captain Aizen why pride was sometimes more important than surviving and expected a lecture, he instead looked thoughtful, as if considering how to put it, and spoke in that calming tone for any problem a member of the Fifth Division had.

_"When he says pride, in that context, he means something else. Something that can't be put into words. Kaien couldn't allow someone else to save his wife because if he did, he would never be able to sleep or close his eyes without wondering why he was unable to protect those he loved. Why did he become a Soul Reaper, protecting the innocent, when his own wife could be taken by a Hollow and he alone couldn't do anything? It's a concept I don't follow, but I understand it, as should you, Momo."_

Ichigo was trying to show that he could have saved his mother, Momo realised. If he could use the powers he gained to stop Grand Fisher, he might be able to put his own internal guilt to rest, Momo jumping in to save him would just make him feel as if he still couldn't protect people on his own even with his powers.

Momo saw this and had to repress her own urge to save him, she took Kon and instructed him to keep Karin and Yuzu safe while they waited for Ichigo to (hopefully) win against Grand Fisher. Even with Kon's urges for her to try and save Ichigo from a likely death, Momo had to stay confident that he would be alive and victorious against the Hollow and that she could be able to save him if he was too injured.

This was Ichigo Kurosaki though, his ability growth was amazing, even when comparing him to Toshiro, she had to have faith in him.

She found the site of him lying on the ground, Grand Fisher cursing his near-defeat and fleeing the battlefield, Ichigo was still alive but badly injured. Momo was just relieved that he was still alive, she leapt towards him and did all that she could to heal as many of his injuries as she could, managing to get the majority of them fixed. The rest would just have to be fixed while Ichigo was placed back into his body, hopefully Kon's doll body was still in good shape, and they should all just be happy that Ichigo won.

"Hey, Momo." Ichigo gasped out, while being healed, her expression unable to be more attentive.

"You shouldn't be talking, it may aggravate the wounds."

"Even with your powers coming back," He gasped out. "I want to continue being a Soul Reaper for a bit longer. That Aizen guy said that helping the innocent is the most important thing, so you should get that I wanna keep helping people. Making sure that guys like Grand Fisher don't kill more people, that's something I want to do for as long as possible."

Both of them smiled at that. "I think that's something I can live with." Ichigo smiled at that, confidence brimming from his face that infectiously caught onto Momo's own, reminding her somewhat of Captain Aizen.

The two seemed alike in that way.

* * *

"You really should be nicer to Kon." Momo scolded, treating the perverted toy as if he wasn't trying to grope every woman in sight with his hands or eyes. Due to her flat chest, Kon hadn't paid much attention to her but Ichigo couldn't even count how many times he had to prevent Kon from jumping Orihime or the other girls at his school. Not to mention the comments made about Momo when Kon felt 'lonely'.

Ichigo did not regret lending him to Yuzu now.

The toy looked like he was avoiding such behaviour now, letting himself get hugged by Momo. "He's so mean when you aren't around, sister. He calls me names and everything."

"Ichigo!"

"I did nothing of the sort." He decided to change the topic, especially after Kon fell to his urges and tried to grope Momo now to expected results. "What do we do about that Ishida guy?"

"You don't remember him?" Eh? How did Momo know him? She seemed a bit shocked that he didn't. "He's first-placed in our class, surely Orihime mentioned her partner in Handicrafts club?"

That guy was in the same after-school activities as Orihime? Ichigo now had the warped mental image of Orihime as Ishida, ruthlessly gunning down Hollows and looking so damn serious, the mental image becoming disturbing when he imagined Ishida as Orihime instead, rubbing his eyes furiously to stop them from entering his mind.

"That still doesn't answer our question." He pointed out, being called out as a Soul Reaper and told that he was hated by some guy did bother him slightly.

Momo sighed. "I'll try and find out more about him, his method of disposing Hollows seems suspicious, I'll contact my sources but we shouldn't do anything directly until we find out more."

"Got it." Ichigo said, wondering whether they would have the time to actually act or not. Momo still didn't seem at her best despite spending two whole months in that gigai thing, despite what she said, Ichigo was becoming worried about her and whether she would ever get her powers back. He didn't know how to confide these worries to her, Momo seemed somewhat aware that something was wrong but didn't do anything to show that she knew how to stop it.

Once the Quincy thing was out of the way, Ichigo resolved to talk to her about it. Maybe asking her sources if there was anything that they could do to speed up the process of restoring Momo's powers, whether they were working with Soul Society or not, she seemed elusive about why they didn't explain the situation to those guys. Maybe it was really embarrassing for her to inform her superiors, or she didn't want Aizen to think less of her.

Then again, considering how the Mod-Souls were treated, there was some type of harsh punishment involved. If that was the case, Ichigo wasn't going to just let one of his friends suffer because of a mistake, no matter who he was going to face.

* * *

"This is for the best." Momo told herself, tying a protesting Kon to the bottom of Ichigo's bed to the best of her abilities.

Ishida had become a friend after the incident with the Menos Grande and everything seemed great again. That was the problem. What was once a way to stay close and keep Ichigo aware of Hollow activity was rapidly becoming her new life, the people at Karakura High and the Kurosaki residence began to fill her mind when she thought of memories.

Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Keigo and Tatsuki replaced Renji, Kira, Matsumoto, Hisagi and Toshiro as friends while family went from Toshiro and Granny to the Kurosakis and Kon, the antics of Mizuiro getting dates and Chizuru and Tatsuki's act were now appearing instead of her time at the SWA when thinking of fun times. Momo was now seeing the human world as her world, she was becoming too attached.

Momo realised this when she was sitting with the girls (when did she regard the group at Karakura High as that?) and the discussion soon focused on whether she and Ichigo were dating or not. Everyone was as shocked as Momo was with Mahana's direct questioning and she quickly denied the rumours that someone who she wouldn't name (Mizuiro) had spread and simply stated that they were friends, the walking to school was just a kind gesture.

After thinking about her feelings for Ichigo, she realised that she had been in the human world for too long, both officially and personally. Momo enjoyed her time in Karakura Town, but no matter what had happened with Fishbone D and what she said to her schoolmates, she wasn't Momo Hinamori the student who placed 4th on the student tables and the hairbun that Keigo poked and Chizuru claimed was cute.

She was Momo Hinamori, Soul Reaper and Vice Captain of the Fifth Division, tasked with the duty of maintaining the balance between the living and the dead and she needed to find help about her condition.

Returning to Soul Society had its risks, Momo knew this as she gazed into the night sky, she may be seen as abandoning her post or being punished with execution for lending her powers to a human. She would need to rely on Captain Aizen and Toshiro to stand up for her case when she explained things to them, other Vice Captains may stand in for her and they may rally their Captains into standing up for her as well.

If she made it there, of course.

Momo wondered how long it would take to reach Naruki City, something she should have done earlier had she not been caught up in the excitement that was Ichigo's life, and find the Soul Reaper for that area. She recalled that he was involved in the Tenth Division, meaning that it would be a short trip towards Toshiro and resuming a normal life.

This didn't mean that she didn't have regrets. The birthday party that Ichigo organised for her, with the help of friends and family, had been wonderful as had the parties for Kunieda, Mizuiro, Tatsuki and Ichigo himself, Momo would regret not being there for Orihime's birthday nor that they would remember the good times they had, if standard protocol was followed.

She missed Captain Aizen's birthday, Ichigo promised to help her buy him the gift of a cat-shaped clock (between words of encouragement about telling him how she felt), so perhaps the gift would be enough. Making up with Toshiro would be another benefit, the way they parted was too bitter and Momo was eager to make up for them. It was all for the best, tears had already been shed and it was time to look to the future.

"Momo?" A concerned voice said, the origin of such being obvious to Momo. She turned to see the face that she had fallen in love with all those years ago, with little to diminish such feelings.

"Captain Aizen?" Why did he look so worried? Momo was about to ask when she was cut off by a hasty reply.

"Do you have a safe place to talk? The matter is very urgent and I don't know if I'm being followed." Her eyes widened, who would be following Captain Aizen and cause him a large amount of worry? Did it have to do with her actions in the human world?

Momo needed to head for somewhere safe, a place where attention could be diverted away from both of them and allow for them to discuss the matter further, only one place would actually do. She hoped that Captain Aizen had sealed his spiritual pressure enough to avoid detection from the Kurosaki family, or Karin and Yuzu in particular.

* * *

"What happened?"

Ichigo was asking this while ripping Kon off the bottom of his bed, the toy complaining about the poor state that he was subjected to, forcing everyone to speak in quiet tones and having Momo ditch the gigai, leaving the glove by a nearby desk, while the famous Aizen seemed to be scrutinising the room. He didn't want to wake anyone up with the potential noise being made.

Aizen looked just like Momo described him, looking physically active enough to look attractive to women but giving the image of someone reliable, especially with the glasses that he wore. He didn't seem to know about how Momo felt, which is just what the little sexual tension needed, but whatever he arrived to inform them, he didn't tell his superiors about his intentions.

With good reason, as he soon found out.

"I'm afraid that the Central 46 have gone mad," Aizen admitted, looking distraught about the news. "They've ordered that Momo be taken and executed for giving her powers to a human and neglecting her post."

Momo gasped while Ichigo felt his blood boil. Kon looked like he had some choice words to use and Ichigo wasn't just going to sit around and let this bullshit slide, if a bunch of bureaucrats with giant sticks up their collective arses thought that they could just pass something like that, they had another thing coming.

"What was she supposed to do? Just let my family die?" Ichigo had to force himself not to shout that out, making the words actually have a bit more impact.

Aizen nodded in agreement. "I know. The circumstances justified her actions, making the verdict very strange but the order remains. What made it more confusing was Captain Hitsugaya's stance on the matter."

"What did Toshiro do?" Momo sounded worried, this guy must have been one of her friends, though it seemed like he had let the team down somehow.

"He refused to endorse my plea for a reduction in the severity of the sentence." Momo gasped and Ichigo clenched his hand hard, nails biting into his skin, with even Aizen looking upset about it. "I couldn't even get a meeting with him, his Vice Captain made up some excuse for him, I found out that he was often speaking with Captain Ichimaru."

"What did he want with that man?"

"I investigated the matter, I don't know how far in Captain Hitsugaya is in the conspiracy, but Captain Ichimaru is involved in some sort of plot involving the Sokyoku, the method of the planned execution."

"That's only for Captains." Momo said, clearly the punishment wasn't fitting even the imagined crime.

Soul Society seemed to be basing a lot of its case on fuck-all. This Ichimaru guy seemed dodgy as hell and Toshiro Hitsugaya was going to get the laws of Ichigo's fist onto his face for abandoning his friend, especially one he knew for as long as Momo, she mentioned a fight but nothing bad enough for him to leave to her death.

From Ishida's words and Kon's story, it was becoming more and more obvious that Aizen and the friends that Momo talked about were the few decent people in the higher positions of Soul Society, with everyone else having a contest on who could be the biggest dick in existence. Aizen looked like he was determined to save Momo from the fate that was being given to her though, and that was enough for Ichigo.

"Exactly, I'll try and find out more, but you should stay undercover, Momo." Aizen assured the other three in the room, turning to Ichigo with a smile on his face. "I have complete faith in you."

"Thanks." He smiled back, feeling a connection with Aizen.

Momo needed time to cope, meaning that Ichigo, Kon and Aizen headed towards the top of another home in the area so that she could calm down. They were far enough to allow for Momo to have her space but not too far as to miss out on any Hollow or Soul Reaper attack, Aizen mentioned that a guy called Captain Byakuya and Vice Captain Renji, one of Momo's Soul Society friends, were the 'retrieval' force which apparently meant that they needed to be constantly vigilant.

Aizen asked for some time alone on another roof but it was pretty easy to hear what Aizen was saying to himself, Kon and Ichigo had to stifle laughs at some of his words.

His attempt at pick-up lines were that painfully corny.

"-Momo, I feel that there is a connection between us that we should explore-no that won't work. Momo, I love y-okay Aizen let's not scare her off. Momo, my feelings for you have grown during our time together and the time apart has only convinced me that we share a bond that no one can break and-"

"You're droning."

Ichigo couldn't just let that go on, it was almost too painful to hear and he didn't think that Momo would appreciate him allowing those to be the words that started off her new relationship with her Captain. Aizen was clearly going to need some help in that department and Ichigo's time with Mizuiro may have allowed him to gain some knowledge about how to pick up girls.

Aizen turned at that, looking bashful about his lines being discovered. "Oh, Mr Kurosaki, I didn't expect for you to hear that."

"Just call me Ichigo," He responded, deciding to be straightforward with these things. "She likes you too, it's pretty obvious, just tell her you like her and she'll leap into your arms."

"I would, but I want to wait until all of this business is done with." Aizen replied, looking uncomfortable about whether to just blurt his feelings out loud, he was a lot like Momo in over-thinking the situation and going for the more complicated path.

"Good point, but you may not have time." Ichigo realised that facing down one Captain was a tough thing to do, from Momo's vague words, but facing down two would be life-threatening, even if you're one as well. Aizen looked to be considering this and Ichigo wondered if he really knew what he was doing. "Think it'll work out?"

"Oh, I imagine so. Gin isn't the bravest of Captains, Hitsugaya is an issue but he is quite young but Soul Reaper standards so experience will help in that regard." He assured Ichigo, the latter having to just take the Captain's word for it, the powers that this Hitsugaya guy had over ice sounded nasty but those illusions from the moisture in the air Momo said he had would help with that.

Sitting and waiting for the problem to be solved bugged Ichigo, he almost felt entirely useless, but it was better than just letting Momo get executed for doing the right thing. He just had to have faith in Aizen's judgement and combat abilities, as well as his ability to beat some sense into that Hitsugaya guy, and that this Ichimaru guy would go down easy.

Momo seemed to have had gotten better, or at least looked it, when she arrived on the roof and it seemed like Aizen was now looking at Ichigo as if he wanted some time alone, Momo was also looking like that. Unlike Kon, Ichigo knew when to take a hint and decided to give the two some privacy before the Captain needed to fix the problem in Soul Society.

"I'll leave you two alone." Ichigo headed back to his home, Aizen leading Momo to the street for added privacy, but the human could still hear the first parts of their conversation.

"Captain Aize-"

"Actually, there is something I should say first." And here it came. "Momo, I lo-"

The voice stopped and Momo's horrified scream reached Ichigo's ears, an explosion suddenly hit the area where Aizen and Momo were and Ichigo felt himself rush towards the site with a speed that he could barely realise that he had. He wondered what had caused the explosion, was it a Hollow that caught the two when they were distracted, or was it Soul Society trying to deal with a 'rogue' Captain.

"Momo, what is it?" He asked, barely seeing the body being held in Momo's arms. Maybe they could get Aizen to one of those gigai's and send him to his dad, he'd be up for helping out guys like Aiz- "Holy crap."

The site wasn't pretty.

"Aizen!" Momo screeched in horror, holding the burnt up corpse in her hands as if it was still the man that she fell in love with. Ichigo had to repress internal questions on how she could even stand the stench of burning flesh when it made him nearly vomit, but it was clear that her stability of mind was breaking down. "Nononononononononononononono."

"I must ask you to stop your blathering." An arrogant voice declared, Ichigo looked up to see two figures with a lack of concern about the burnt body below them. The black-haired guy pointed his sword at Momo, while the red-haired guy acted unconvincingly eager to get things going. "Hinamori Momo, it is time for you to face judgement."

* * *

Ichigo's defeat was certain.

Even Ishida fell to Renji, when he had arrived to help out, but even the smallest amount of hope was beyond Momo despite Ichigo holding his own due to the presence of Captain Kuchiki. Momo felt a sense of pride when she saw Ichigo match a Vice Captain for a while but the imbalance of power between him and Captain Kuchiki was apparent.

She had silently cursed herself for not telling Ichigo about zanpakuto, she never expected to be in the human world long enough for it to develop, and for being so weak. Renji had been right when he pointed out how sad it looked for a kido master to have trouble launching a few offensive spells, pitiful would have been a better word.

What had been strange was that neither of the two seemed to understand that she was holding the corpse of Captain Aizen or even noticed the damage done to the surrounding area, didn't they see the wreckage or smell (_his_) burning flesh? They just told her that he was last seen in his office, working on her case, Captain Kuchiki saying this with disdain in his voice.

Ichigo had been defeated by Captain Kuchiki in a matter of seconds, it couldn't even be called a battle when your opponent didn't even try, and was now lying on the floor with blood seeping from his body. Two people that Momo had cared about were now either dead or nearing it and the reason was that she couldn't even defeat a single Hollow when she was supposed to. What made it more heartbreaking was that Ichigo still refused to give up and had grabbed Captain Kuchiki's leg with as much force as he could muster.

Momo couldn't allow another loved one to go and get themselves killed because of her, she ran towards him and kicked his arm with enough force to pry it off Captain Kuchiki's leg, Ichigo looked confused about what she had done. "Please, Ichigo," She begged. "Don't get yourself killed because of my mistakes."

"Momo, you can't just let them take you away." Ichigo said, a mixture of concern and panic in his voice. "Aizen was going to get help for you! We can't just let him die in vain!"

She winced at that, Captain Kuchiki looked like he was becoming bored. "Captain Aizen, as I have said, is still in Soul Society and is working on reducing the severity of your sentence which will only be undermined by your resistance."

"Please allow me a few last words, Captain Kuchiki, I won't resist arrest after that." A nod gave her the chance to kneel by Ichigo's side and moved down towards his ear, deciding to give him some advice on what to do if he wanted to keep on helping the dead, even with his powers lost. Maybe it was her being selfish, but Momo just wanted to know that her time as a Soul Reaper at least had some results.

"Find a man named Kisuke Urahara, he'll help you on matters relating to Soul Society." Knowing that even Ichigo's rate of growth may not be enough to match a Captain's, he could at least become a powerful asset for stopping Hollows where Soul Reapers were too busy and may even help in finding and avenging Captain Aizen's death.

It was the least Momo could do.

Not wanting his last image of her to be of a weak and sobbing girl, she summoned up a brave face for Ichigo and told him to not worry about her, she stood tall and marched with Captain Kuchiki and Renji to Soul Society (and probably her death). Momo looked like she was ignoring Ichigo's pleas for her to not leave, pretending to not fear for Ishida's wounded body and simply kept on walking.

It was only when she was sure that they were out of the human world that she broke down into tears again.

* * *

Standing by the Senkaimon made Ichigo think about what he was about to do, he was about to break into what was a large military fortress, free Momo from her prison while avoiding any Captain that was too strong and then get out without any deaths or permanent injuries to his friends. This was just slightly harder than some of Keigo's video games or some of the tests at Karakura High.

Orihime, Chad, Ishida and Yoruichi being alongside him may not even be enough. Ichigo wasn't one for self-doubt, however his private theory about that Ichimaru guy being the one who murdered Aizen meant that he and others wanted Momo dead bad and would be determined to crush any opposition to that happening, making them extremely powerful.

Some others may have decided to stop right there, realising that they were doing something really stupid for someone who may not even want to be saved if it meant their friends dying, but Ichigo wasn't one of them. Momo had a silly hairstyle, could take jokes the wrong way, could misinterpret things and never believe the truth, mishear words intentionally and could burst into tears a lot, that was true.

She also helped plan the birthday parties for both him and _their_ friends, she taught him how to use his initial abilities and the duty of a Soul Reaper being to help people and had always been ready to give a smile or some comforting words during the rougher days of the job. Momo Hinamori did all of that, made a sacrifice to save the innocent and was being punished for that with the death of the man she loved and being executed for such "crimes".

Ichigo didn't care what Soul Society thought they were doing, he wasn't going to stand by and let something like that slide.

The rescue group looked to one another and nodded, they were determined to do what was needed to save Momo from getting killed for the crime of doing the right thing. Taking a defiant step into the Seikaimon, led by the cat who had trained Orihime and Chad, Ichigo made a silent vow that he would save Momo, avenge Aizen, stop that Ichimaru guy and then either get a pardon after that guy's plan ended or go home and beat the crap out of any Soul Reaper who tried to take Momo to her death.

And if Momo didn't want to be rescued? Well, in a rescue, the feelings of the rescued weren't exactly given top priority were they?

* * *

**Hopefully, you all enjoyed that. I may continue this in the form of another oneshot, looking at how the Soul Society arc would play out, or as a wider story. The other oneshots will play as other "shards of a mirror", reflecting how things would have been if another event happened differently or the people involved were swapped.**

**Remember to review.**


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